April 27, 2003

Corp's 2003 Missouri River management plan favors lower river commerce, marinas, boaters and birds

The current 2003 Missouri River management plan should result in flows which will maintain barge navigation throughout the year even if drought conditions persist. 

The Corps of Engineers will constantly regulate Upper Missouri River main stem reservoir levels and dam release rates, based on drought conditions, in order to satisfy minimum navigation requirements. 

Steady flows will be maintained during the nesting season for piping plovers, a shorebird on the federal threatened species list at the heart of the long-running battle over the river’s flow. The Corps said it will release enough water in May to discourage Piping Plovers and Least Terns from nesting where they could be washed away by later releases. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service blocked the Corps from a similar approach in 2002 out of concern for the birds, which are on the Endangered Species list. The service said recent research results predict the shore bird population can handle varied releases for just this one year. 

“It looks like ... the population of plovers in this reach of the river could take this hit on their population and still not be under an additional threat of extinction,” said Mike Olson, an official of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck, N.D. “While we were able to allow this to occur one time, this is not a long-term management possibility,” Olson said. 

The service also will allow the corps to move nests if needed, although it will prevent the agency from moving nests and chicks to the corps’ captive rearing facility. 

Congress has been a major player in the long-running dispute over whether to return lower Missouri River release flows to spring rise and low summer flows, mimicking nature before the river was dammed for barge shipments and hydropower. The Fish and Wildlife Service has stated for years that, based on it's 'best guess' research, mimicking the natural flow is only way to protect the plover and two other endangered species, the Least Tern shore bird and the Pallid Sturgeon fish. It gave the corps a 2002 deadline to comply, but the Bush administration postponed the changes indefinitely last summer. 

The announced 2003 Missouri River management plan has intensified resentment between states along the upper reaches of the Missouri and those downstream. The new operating plan drew protests from upstream state Senators and Governors (SD, ND, MONT.), where a multimillion dollar Walleye fishing and boating recreation industry is pushing to keep water in the reservoirs. They argue that downstream barge shipments are worth a fraction of the value of fishing and boating on upriver lakes. 

“This is utterly and completely unacceptable,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. “It’s not good economics, it’s not good science and it’s apparently driven by the electoral votes of one downstream state, and that’s the state of Missouri.” 

Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, however, called it “a reasonable compromise” adding, that “appears to be sound...when water is in such short supply as is currently the case, there is no way to satisfy fully either region." 

Conservation groups have sued to force the changes, and a leader of the effort, American Rivers, denounced Tuesday’s agreement. 

“It’s a fantasy,” said American Rivers spokesman Chad Smith. “We’re still in a drought and more than likely will continue to be over the summer. The reservoirs will be drained, the birds’ nests will be flooded out, and the corps will be able to do what it normally does – support navigation – so we’re right back to the status quo.” 

Corps spokesman Paul Johnston disputed that claim, and said the corps will release enough water in May to cover shallow sandbars, keeping birds from nesting there. “We’re going to start at a level that the most susceptible islands will be inundated before the birds begin to nest,” Johnston said. 

The plan also would allow the Corps to use water from Kansas River reservoirs to keep from flooding the plovers, who nest farther upstream in a 50-mile stretch below Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota. Kansas reservoir levels are too low to provide water now, the two federal agencies said, but they could be used if their levels rise. 

And so the Great 2003 Missouri River Water War has begun...